Another walk into a Govt school..

Importance of ID cards – Take 2!

     This time it was a visit to a more interior Govt school. The talk was to be delivered during the first period, since the teacher was on leave. I was asked to come few minutes earlier (which I did). It was 9.20 am, precisely. The kids were already standing in their respective Queues, in the school ground, and were just about to start their prayers; when I entered the School gate. The teacher (who was my contact point), signaled me to join the staff on stage. I just stood at a corner, waiting for the prayer session  to get over.

The Prayer Session:

      The minute the session started, nostalgia started playing its chords in my mind – the prayers, followed by news-headlines-reading, and then proverbs-reading took me straight to my school days (experienced this typical school-prayer atmosphere after a little more than a decade!). The only difference being, I wasn’t doing any of those this time :P

     Some of the kids gazed at me, simultaneously while reciting ‘Jai Bhaarat maate, Jai Karnatak maate’  [no! I was not their Bhaarat maate; they were just suspecting me to be their new Miss [teacher :P]

Enter into Class 7^th:

     The school does not have a high school, hence the authorities decided to keep 6^th and 7^th class kids as my audience. Fair enough.

     Before I could begin, unexpectedly, the students once again filled me with warmth by chanting Omkar and few other morning shlokas (as a gesture of welcome) – and then gave a sweet collective wish of -  ‘GOOD MORRNIIING MEEES’. [Purely Indian!] I was humbled!

     Quickly dusting off the clouds of emotions (before they could take over me), I started the Introduction section [which was in the same format as the last time, since it had worked out then. The 3 points I have listed here]. And then slowly, we slipped into the world of ‘chalk-piece-and-blackboard’, through my half-cooked-kannada – discussing ID cards for the next 40 minutes. [this time I somewhat felt like Amir Khan of TZP, perhaps because the kids were comparatively younger than my previous audience, and I had to keep them engaged; by being one among them]. To add to it, I learnt another kannada word from the kids - ‘Mane vilaas patra’ that is synonymous to ‘Residential proof’ [learning is always mutual, u see B-)]

     Post the session, was the Q&A – where again – the kids left no stones unturned in answering to all the questions that I and the teacher [who accompanied me, to supervise the kids, just in case] had asked. Every kid I pointed out, walked up confidently to write the answer on the board. This was my victory.The purpose was again – served!

     The Q&A was followed by a counter ‘Q&A’ – this time the kids really bowled me over by asking questions ranging from ‘White board - yellow board vehicles’ to asking ‘LIC policies’. The time was almost up, when I finished clarifying them about the difference between the ID cards, LIC policies and LIC agents. Quickly, I closed the session by, once again, taking a promise for getting their ID cards done – and receiving a collective yell of ‘YYYYYessss’

After a short thank you speech from my end, I packed my bag and walked out of the classroom, to find the kids opening up the windows to bid me a good-bye (they had realized I was not their ‘hosa miss’, but just a guest speaker)

     Another feather in my cap! After few formalities with the school staff, I walked out of the school still basking in the warmth the kids had showered on me.

Wonder if while volunteering for something.. are you really Giving? Or in fact, Receiving….

Express my gratitude to: Govt High school staff, Thippenahalli ; iuindia; Mohan from iuindia. And Aunt, who once again, was the main connect!

Cheers!

[This is about my talk on Importance of ID Cards – Voters ID, Aadhar Card and LL-DL – a part of my assignment from iuindia. The experience of my first talk, you can find here]